Delaware Christian Roundup: Golfers close season at district tournament

JARROD ULREY THISWEEKSPORTS.COM @UlreyThisWeeK

Friday

Oct 4, 2019 at 7:00 AM

Setting the tone was among the roles Nathan Stewart attempted to fill for the Delaware Christian boys golf team the last two seasons.

He had four rounds in the 70s this season, including earning medalist honors with a 71 on Aug. 13 in the Licking Valley Invitational at The Virtues.

During the Division III district tournament Oct. 2 at Darby Creek, the junior -- who played in the No. 1 spot all season for the Eagles and was called a "foundation" by coach Jonathan Smith -- recorded a 13th-place finish by shooting an 83.

"Getting good scores for the team always comes from the No. 1, and that's basically how we can score (better)," Stewart said. "I would say my drives off the tee got a little bit more accurate (this season)."

Led by the performances of Stewart and senior Mitchell Smith, who carded a 90, Delaware Christian shot 391 to finish ninth in the 13-team district tournament as champion Wellington (314) and medalist Drew Salyers (69) of Howard East Knox advanced to state.

"It was pretty warm and it was a pretty hard course," Stewart said. "There were a lot of hard pin placements and slopes, so it was a lot about placing the ball. (Darby Creek is) not too far from where I live, but it does play kind of tough if you don't put your drive in the right place."

While Smith tied for 31st, senior Pryce Johnson shot 104 to place 49th and senior Sam Rindfuss and sophomore Dayne Johnson each shot 114 to tie for 62nd.

There was no sectional tournament because there are fewer than 16 full teams in the district.

"It was a great season, really fun," Dayne Johnson said. "It was good to compete with all of these bigger schools. We all got a lot better."

Delaware Christian shot 169 in the MOCAL tournament Sept. 24 at Darby Creek to finish ahead of Shekinah Christian (228) and Tree of Life (267) as Stewart was medalist (34) and Smith was runner-up (39).

"We've got a total of 10 guys this year, and five of the 10 are seniors, but we've got freshmen that have been really developing and growing," coach Smith said. "We're starting to see their scores drop, so we're excited about that."

Volleyball team earns share of league title

The girls volleyball team will learn its Division IV district tournament drawing Sunday, Oct. 6.

Last season, the Eagles were the fourth seed but upset second-seeded Shekinah Christian in a district semifinal and were a district runner-up.

They'll head into the postseason this fall as a league champion.

Before playing Tree of Life on Oct. 3, Delaware Christian was 18-1 overall and had wrapped up at least a share of the MOCAL title at 8-0 with its league and regular-season finale coming Thursday, Oct. 10, at Granville Christian.

Delaware Christian also played Delaware on Oct. 5.

Shekinah Christian was 7-2 before closing the league schedule Oct. 3 at Madison Christian, and Tree of Life was 6-3 in the league before playing Delaware Christian.